


Opening Day

by hermione_of_vulcan



Category: Deep Dish Nine - Fandom, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 15:39:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermione_of_vulcan/pseuds/hermione_of_vulcan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's opening day at Chez Picard, and the manager has some business to take care of, including a reunion with an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opening Day

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely adore the Deep Dish Nine AU, and there was so little TNG. I highly recommend [Devil in Disguise](http://archiveofourown.org/works/979708) and [She's My Best Friend](http://archiveofourown.org/works/747805), which inspired me to contribute.

Picard pushed open the door and stepped into the restaurant. He scanned the room, pleased with what he saw. It was full of activity - wonderful smells were coming from the kitchen, servers rushed around setting tables, and Guinan had enlisted several waiters to help her stock the bar. She winked at him across the room as he began making his way across the room.

"Sonya, try inputting a wine selection and a food selection," a young man with thick glasses said to a waitress holding a tablet.

She did as he asked, and he raced across to the bar register. He smiled and tapped something, then raced into the kitchen. 

He came out and gave the waitress a thumbs up. "It worked!"

"Excellent work, Mr. - " Picard began.

"LaForge. Geordi LaForge," he said, sticking out his hand. "You must be Jean-Luc Picard." 

"That I am," he said, shaking the proffered hand. 

"You've got a nice place here. I bet it'll be packed tonight." 

Picard nodded briskly. "Thank you for your vote of support. Excuse me," he said, catching sight of William Riker standing near the kitchen and strolling over.

The new host was talking to a curly-haired waitress. She was smiling in the knowing way Betazoids did, and he looked somewhere between pleased and uncomfortable.  
"Mr. Riker," Picard said. "I'd like to speak to you privately. Business matters."

Riker nodded. "I'll see you later, Deanna."

"Of course."

"You know this is going to be a family-friendly restaurant," Picard began once Deanna left.

"Yes."

"And while I agree with the sentiment, I'm not very good with children. So if any, er - child problems - arise, I'd like you to handle them." 

"All right," Riker said.

"And no ones to know that the owner of a family restaurant isn't good with children."

"I'll make sure of that," Riker said.

Picard smiled. "Welcome to Chez Picard, Mr. Riker."  
\--  
Geordi LaForge was right, Picard mused as he stepped into the main room of the restaurant. It was packed with people - some of them, he noticed, families with children. In fact, a woman and a teenager were just being seated - wait, who was that?

Picard made his way across the room, ducking behind waiters in an effort not to be seen.

"Is there any way I can meet the manager?" Beverly Crusher asked Riker.

"Do you know him?" Riker asked.

Picard froze.

"He was a friend of my husband's."

"Was?"

She bit her lip and glanced at the floor. "My husband's dead."

"Oh." An uncomfortable silence, then - "Table 3. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

Picard's instincts were to run, but he told himself that was irrational. It was just Beverly Crusher. Certainly, bringing back her husband's body was hardly the best of circumstances to part on, but that shouldn't prevent them from moving on with their lives and continuing their friendship. At least, that’s what he tried to convince himself.

"Jean-Luc!" 

She'd spotted him.

Picard smiled in spite of himself and waved quickly before making his exit into the kitchen.

Only to run into a waitress carrying a cup of hot chocolate. It splashed over both of them, and she gasped.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" she cried, pulling a towel from her apron and dabbing at Picard's shirt.

"It's all right -" he glanced at her name tag "- Sonya. I'll just head home and change. No harm done." He smiled weakly.

She still looked apologetic as he left. Why was he going to such effort to avoid Beverly Crusher?

\--

Picard straightened his shirt and walked back out, intending to apologize to Beverly.

He stopped short. "No children in the kitchen," he said to the teenage boy standing at the door. "Oh."

It was Beverly's son, and she stood behind him.

"Please, Mr. Picard!" Wesley said. "I promise I'll be good."

"He's really interested in culinary arts," Beverly said.

Picard sighed. "Go on in." As the boy grinned, he added "But don't touch anything!"

Wesley bounded off, and Picard turned to Beverly. "I'm sorry I avoided you earlier. I just…didn't know what to say."

"You could have said it was good to see me again," she said, a hint of mischief in her eyes. 

"It is," Picard said. “Your son has grown.”

“Children do that.”

“Of course.” He paused. “If this is the sort of conversation I provide, can you understand why I didn’t want to speak to you?”

She laughed. “I don’t mind.”

He smiled. “I’m glad.”


End file.
